The present invention relates to a polarimeter in an all-fiber configuration, and more particularly to an assembly for determining the polarization, the degree of polarization and the power of light guided in a glass fiber, the use thereof, as well as a polarimetric method.
Light is an electromagnetic wave, the electric field strength components of which are oscillating with the optical angular frequency Ω in the x-y plane orthogonal to the propagation direction z. Each wave may be separated into 2 orthogonal partial waves, the amplitudes and phase relationships of which uniquely describe the polarization.
In the case of linear partial waves:E(t)=[Ex cos (Ωt+φx),Ey cos (Ωt+φy)][ex, ey]A polarization variation is caused by a variation in the phase difference Δφ=φy−φx or by a variation in the ratio of amplitudes.
For describing the polarization, several equivalent parameters are usual. Aside from the parameters of the polarization ellipse, azimuth θ and ellipticity angle ε, the normalized Stokes parameters s1, s2, s3 are widespread. A complete description of even only partially polarized light waves gives the Stokes parameters S0, S1, S2 and S3. From these the normalized Stokes parameters s1, s2, s3 are derivable for describing the polarization state, the degree of polarization and the total power.
The refractive index n of a wave plate is direction-dependent. Therefore, the generally linear partial waves experience different phase velocities and obtain a phase difference.
A polarizer attenuates the partial wave in its blocking direction considerably more than the orthogonal component in its transmission direction. Therefore, the transmitted power becomes polarization-dependent and a simple detection of the polarization is realized.
The use of a polarimeter and a polarimetric method, respectively, has the following application fields:                Determining the degree of polarization (DOP)        Determining the degree of polarization (DOP) as a control signal in a polarization mode dispersion (PMD) compensator        Determining the polarization-dependent attenuation and loss (PDL), respectively, of optical fibers and components        Determining the polarization mode dispersion (PMD) of optical fibers and components        Analysis of birefringent and polarizing materials        Determining the extinction ratio (ER) in polarization maintaining fibers        Evaluation of sensors on a polarimetric basis (e.g. Faraday current sensor)        Extraction of control signals in automatic polarization controllers and many other things.        
Aside from “complete polarimeters”, which detect all of the four Stokes parameters, there are means that determine only the deviation of the polarization state from a desired polarization state. This may be realized by simple polarizers, polarization beam splitters, etc.
The polarization of the light may be described mathematically by means of the Stokes vector. The Stokes vector is completely determined by the four Stokes parameters S0 . . . S3. The Stokes parameters are defined as follows: S0 (absolute power), S1 (linearly horizontally polarized component less the linearly vertically polarized component), S2 (linearly 45° polarized component less the linearly −45° polarized component), S3 (right-handed circularly polarized component less the left-handed circularly polarized component).
For determining the polarization state, the degree of polarization and the power of the light, all four parameters of the Stokes vector have to be determined.
A polarimeter in the form of an assembly having a rotating wave plate in combination with a polarizer fixedly arranged in front of a detector is known. From the detected signal, the four Stokes parameters may be determined. However, the mechanically moving parts limit the measurement result speed.
There are also known various polarimeter assemblies, using beam splitters, polarization beam splitters, polarizers and wave plates, which separate the incident light beam such that the four Stokes parameters may be determined with at least four correspondingly disposed detectors. However, these assemblies normally require a high adjustment effort, see T. Pikaar et al.: Fast complete polarimeter for optical fibres; E-FOC 1989.
Another disadvantage of the assemblies mentioned above is the fact that with these assemblies an inline measurement, namely a determination of the polarization characteristics of the light guided in the glass fiber, usually is not possible. So-called fiber polarimeters or inline polarimeters avoid this disadvantage.
There are known various embodiments of fiber polarimeters. In the patent specification (U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,270) an assembly having a 1×5 fusion coupler as well as succeeding polarizers and wave plates is disclosed.
Another known assembly is presented in R. M. A. Azzam: Inline light saving photopolarimeter and its fiber optic analog; Optic Letters, Vol. 12, No. 8, pp. 558–560, 1987 where polarization-dependent couplers are used for determining the Stokes parameters.
Another known assembly is presented in M. A. Habli: Experimental implementation of a fiber optic four detector photopolarimeter; Optik, Vol. 110, No. 9, pp. 433–435, 1999. There partially ground fibers are used to couple a polarization-dependent portion of the light out of the fiber.
The patent specification (U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,957B1) discloses another assembly of a fiber polarimeter. According to this, oblique fiber Bragg gratings are used, where the grating period and the angle between grating plane and fiber axis are selected such that light can couple from the guided fundamental mode into a radiation mode. This coupling is highly polarization-dependent. For determining the four Stokes parameters four differently oriented gratings are used where, in addition to the discrimination between right-handed circularly and left-handed circularly polarized light, a UV-induced wave plate is interposed. UV-induced birefringence is described in T. Erdogan et al.: Characterization of UV-induced birefringence in photo-sensitive Ge-doped silica optical fibers; J. Opt. Soc. Am. B/Vol. 11, No. 10, pp. 2100–2105, 1994. The generation of birefringence by bending the glass fiber is described in R. Ulrich et al.: Bending-induced birefringence in single-mode fibers; Optics Letters, Vol. 5, No. 6, June 1980.
This solution is disadvantageous in that the fiber Bragg gratings have to be inscribed with four different orientations to the fiber axis (0°, 90°and 45°, 135°). In manufacturing the fiber Bragg gratings, this may be achieved by an appropriate rotation of the glass fiber about the fiber axis, but is associated with considerable effort. This also implies that the individual fiber Bragg gratings couple out light in four different directions. Thus, the use of planar detector rows or detector arrays is not possible.
Another disadvantage is the asymmetry of the coupled-out polarization components. With respect to the input, the polarization states linear 0°, linear 45° and linear 90° as well as a nearly circular polarization are coupled out. This assembly inevitably causes polarization-dependent losses (PDL) of the whole assembly, since the PDL of the individual gratings (components of the light intensity of a certain polarization direction are coupled out of the fiber) do not compensate for each other. Further, with three linear polarization states and an approximately circular polarization state, in the analysis of any polarization state the optimum cannot be achieved when real detector currents are evaluated.
What is desired is a technologically simpler and cheaper fiber polarimeter having better quality characteristics, the use thereof, as well as a corresponding polarimetric method.